Russian, Moldovan foreign ministers to meet in Moscow on April 4

MOSCOW, April 03. /ITAR-TASS/. Foreign Ministers Sergei Lavrov of Russia and Natalia Gherman of Moldova will have a bilateral meeting in Moscow on April 4, Russian State Secretary and Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin told ITAr-TASS on Thursday.

“A meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) will be held on Friday,” he said. “Moldova’s foreign minister will take part in the meeting. She will have a bilateral meeting with the Russian foreign minister.”

Apart from that, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry, Lavrov will have bilateral meetings with his counterparts from Belarus and Azerbaijan.

Lavrov’s talks with the Moldovan foreign minister will focus on the Transtniestrian problems among other topics. Moscow “is worried over the steps taken by the current Ukrainian leaders concerning the freedom of movement, the implementation of Transtniestria’s rights committed to paper in previous agreements, foreign economic activities and transit,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said earlier in Paris, after his meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry.

More consultations will soon be held in the 5+2 format, where Transtniestria and Moldova are conflicting parties, Russia and Ukraine act as co-guarantors, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) is a mediator, and the United States and the European Union are observers.